Health minister urges all Albertans to get flu shot as outbreak begins to place ‘great strain’ on health system

Mariam Ibrahim, Edmonton Journal01.03.2014

People wait in line outside the Bonnie Doon Public Health Centre for flu vaccinations in Edmonton on Jan. 3, 2014. The clinic was turning away people and telling them to come back later due to overcrowding.Larry Wong
/ Edmonton Journal

Five-year-old Jaydon Tweedy, left, and his sister Annabelle, 3, wait in line with their mother Lisa Tweedy outside the Bonnie Doon Public Health Centre for flu vaccinations in Edmonton on Jan. 3, 2014. The clinic was turning away people and telling them to come back later due to overcrowding.Larry Wong
/ Edmonton Journal

EDMONTON-With a flu outbreak that has killed five Albertans and hospitalized hundreds more, Health Minister Fred Horne appealed Friday for all Albertans to get their shots and directed the province’s health authority to publicly report the immunization rates for staff at health care facilities.

Speaking at a southwest Edmonton Shoppers Drug Mart, Horne urged anyone who hasn’t yet had a flu shot to get one quickly, saying the province has “a short window to take advantage of the immunization that’s available to all of us.”

Mass immunization clinics opened in Edmonton and Calgary Friday morning. In Edmonton, long lineups formed at both the Northgate Health Centre, which saw roughly 1,000 people pass through its doors by day’s end, and at the Bonnie Doon Health Centre, which had to stop accepting walk-in visits at 2 p.m. after serving between 800 to 900 people.

Of the five confirmed flu deaths, three were in Edmonton. All were cases of the H1N1 strain, which is the dominant strain this year. This season’s flu shot protects against the H1N1 strain, which tends to affect people in their 30s, 40s and 50s more harshly than seniors.

The province has confirmed nearly 1,000 cases of influenza, Horne said, with more than 270 people who were hospitalized because of the illness. With only about one in five Albertans vaccinated, “we are by no means at a point where we are protected, as a population, from influenza, and particularly, H1N1,” Horne said.

The outbreak has led to an increase in hospital admissions and busier emergency departments and intensive care units. Some elective surgeries have also had to be postponed.

“We have the makings of a great strain on our health care system and we’re only about halfway through flu season,” Horne said.

Ironically, the Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy Horne spoke at Friday had to turn away a few people looking to get vaccinated because it had run out of supply.

The demand has been “unbelievable,” said Paul Readman, pharmacist and owner of the store. The pharmacy ran out of the vaccine after immunizing about 40 people on Thursday, and expected to receive more Friday afternoon, he said.

“Definitely, in the last two weeks, a huge increase in inquiries and us providing the vaccine, but we’re been fairly active since October,” Readman said.

The rates of immunization among health care workers in the province sits at roughly 49 per cent, which is concerning because they are in close contact with the ill or elderly and can easily spread the virus, Horne said.

He likened the importance of getting immunized to the importance of hand-washing in the health care system. While he wouldn’t say he would make immunization mandatory for health care staff, he said that “education in and of itself is clearly not enough.

As a means of identifying where the lowest rates of immunization are, Horne on Friday directed Alberta Health Services to publicly report the rates among staff in health care facilities across the province. The first report will become available next week, he said. He acknowledged the tactic might receive some criticism, but said it’s meant as a supportive measure.

He said his goal is for 100 per cent of health care workers to be immunized.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees said in a statement that while it encourages its members to get vaccinated, “immunization is rightfully a personal choice.”

Heather Smith, president of the United Nurses of Alberta, said the focus shouldn’t be on immunization rates.

“The focus on what percentage of workers are or aren’t vaccinated isn’t the point,” Smith said. “Immunization is not the most important tool. We need to focus instead on appropriate precautionary principles.”

-Edmonton Catholic Schools has posted health tips on its website to prevent flu and H1N1 and is providing information to staff.

ALBERTA FLU STATISTICS AS OF JAN .1

Total cases confirmed by lab:

965 in Alberta, including 920 identified as H1N1

371 in Edmonton, including 350 identified as H1N1

357 in Calgary, including 345 identified as H1N1

Total deaths in hospital ICUs due to flu:

Five in Alberta, including three in Edmonton, and two in Calgary. (All due to H1N1)

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Health minister urges all Albertans to get flu shot as outbreak begins to place ‘great strain’ on health system

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